Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/534048
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 28 JUNE 2015 24 Opinion I 'm not usually one to say 'I told you so' – we-e-ell, OK, perhaps I am… but hey, that's only because I find myself "telling you so" so darn often – but on this occasion, even I was taken aback by the sheer speed at which one of my earlier predictions came true. It was not, I admit, the most difficult prediction to make. No animal entrails were required for dissection on an altar. No crystal balls, either (understandably enough, as one's testicles do not actually affect the science of prophecy in any way, no matter what substance they are made of…) What other arcane arts may or may not have been involved, I shall keep to myself for the moment. Suffice it to say that two weeks ago I accurately predicted that any politician, from any party, would be instantly pilloried for daring to even mention the word 'abortion' in the local context (at least, not when loudly criticising the other party's voting record in the European Parliament on the same issue – more of which in a sec). And oh, look: out pops young Jamie Vella, an 18-year-old member of the Nationalist Party executive, who took the trouble of proving me right just yesterday, 15 days later. So immediately after writing this, I'll be contacting the Guinness Book of Records to ask if they have a category for "speediest (and most unabashedly smug) 'I told you so' ever" (and if ever I get a reply, you can rest assured I'll 'tell you so' about that, too…). But in any case: Vella went on record saying this week that he believed abortion should be available to "those who need it". Crash, bang, shock, horror… Naturally, the masses of online commentators who scrambled to respond, failed to notice – perhaps they were too busy dismembering the hapless Jamie and feeding him to the lions, piece by piece – that in so doing, Vella was merely quoting chapter and verse from the official health policies of the European Union… you know, the same EU we've been a member of since 2004, and whose policies on female reproductive rights we have all studiously avoided discussing these past 11 years. Another thing that escaped their notice is that Jamie Vella's suggestion is also standard practice in all other EU states, and indeed all civilised countries in the world (including many where abortion-on-demand is also illegal). Just to clarify matters; Vella was very clearly speaking about precisely the sort of extreme cases where a strict application of Maltese law (which, incidentally, never happens) could prove fatal to the mother. Examples include the much-published recent case in Paraguay, where a 10-year-old girl was raped and impregnated by her stepfather. Following recent amendments to Ireland's (previously analogous) abortion ban, Malta is now officially the only EU country to legally deny abortions in all such cases, without any exception whatsoever: not for rape, not for incest (or both), not even where the mother's life may be at risk. And as any MEP will tell you in private (but never in public), this is considered a very basic breach of human rights in the rest of Europe… in fact, it is the one area where all six of our MEPs have to put up with questions and criticism all the time. So finally, belatedly, it seems that random individuals here and there are waking up to the reality that we can't just go on pretending ours isn't a Third World country when it comes to female reproduction rights. First it was a guest speaker at a recent 'conference of ideas' (organised, incidentally by the Nationalist Party), calling for a revision of party policy on the subject… and now a junior PN member, who went one step further and suggested a legislative change to actually bring our laws in line with the rest of civilisation. This naturally points towards a teenie-weenie irony in the fact that both these noises happened to come from the Nationalist Party: all three of whose MEPs very recently voted against an EP resolution calling for emergency abortion to save the life of the above-mentioned 10-year-old girl. But no matter. When 'I told you so' two weeks ago, I was referring to any local political party. And in Vella's case, the response was as instantaneous as it was farcically predictable. An NGO called 'The Gift of Life Foundation' immediately rounded on the PN, 'challenging' it to reaffirm its pro-life principles… OR ELSE! This was followed by a barrage of (very evidently orchestrated) online comments below the article, threatening 'never to vote PN again' until a clarification was forthcoming… So of course, the PN hastily recited its own little bit from the rehearsed script: 'No, we haven't changed our policy on abortion, no, Jamie Vella does not speak on behalf of the PN… and yes, we are a party which tolerates and permits various topics to be discussed among our members, etc. etc.' About the only less-than- predictable thing about the PN's statement is that it stopped short of actually criticising its young and (some would say) foolhardy young whippersnapper. And a significant detail it is, too. Other than that, however, there was no mistaking the whimpering tone of a beaten dog retreating submissively into its kennel. After all, someone, somewhere, had dared to squeak the word 'abortion' against the Not to say 'I told you so', Raphael Vassallo